


oh, I've been all around this world

by ashintuku



Series: I've been all around this world [6]
Category: Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: Ace Spectrum, Epilogue, Gen, Identity Issues, Polyamory, Post-Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Sibling Bonding, Sibling Love, Spoilers, Star Wars: The Force Awakens Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-09
Updated: 2016-02-09
Packaged: 2018-05-19 07:44:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,329
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5959276
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ashintuku/pseuds/ashintuku
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Rey was made of stars, bright and brilliant and multitudes, expanding far beyond what the eye could see; Finn was a sun, blinding, bright, the centre of gravity, holding solar systems together; Poe was the dozens of planets that both called home, because he was warm and welcoming and always ready to reach out and touch their unbelievable brightness. </p><p>Leia was a sun; Luke was the stars; Han had been their home.</p>
            </blockquote>





	oh, I've been all around this world

**Author's Note:**

> Warning: change of perspective.

It was supernovas, black holes, exploding suns and dying stars every time he took a moment to close his eyes and meditate. 

Echoing breath haunted his every step and shadows slid between the cracks of his fingers, mingling into the light; becoming grey, grey, he was worn and tired and old and _grey_. Burning comets blinded him; burning fathers leaving scarred idols; burning aunts and uncles because Uncle Owen and Aunt Beru had never known when to kowtow to a person. 

Everyone spoke of how like his Father he was, that idealized boy-youth with the scar over his eye and the smile he inherited - but he knew that he got all of his best qualities from those who raised him. Aunt Beru's gentle acceptance, Uncle Owen's quiet loyalty. 

He breathed in deeply, and the scents of swamp and jungle mixed with memory of burning sands and oil and good home cooking. He tasted bread on his tongue and sand in his throat; his metal hand burned, lightsabre-bright, and he opened his eyes and looked up to see his sister. 

The destruction of the universe settled inside of him, the grey calming and levelling to something lighter; the other half of his powers - their powers - the Force was _strong_ in their family - falling around him like a blanket comforting him after the loss of Old Ben. Luke smiled up at Leia.

"Hi, Leia." 

"Luke," the General shook her head, her sloping shoulders stronger than her son's had ever been, and she sat down next to him heavily. Leia had always been more grounded than Luke; she had her head on her shoulders and not in the sky, walking amongst the clouds. She stared straight ahead as everything burned and her planet died and her people died. Luke had always admired her, his big-little sister; admired her and loved her and wanted only the best for her. 

He remembered seeing her, tinny and blue, beautiful with angry eyes and a mouth pressed into a determined line. Remembered seeing her and thinking _this is the woman I will love forever and ever and ever._

The first time he had told Han that, he'd looked at him strangely; shortly after the marriage between Han Solo and Leia Organa, when Leia had gone to the New Republic to speak of the threat of a rising Order and Luke was visiting Han and carefully testing children's Force sensitivity. 

_She's your sister, Luke_ , Han said, _your sister. You can't love her like that_. 

Luke had smiled, making toys float around the children's' heads, but had never answered. He couldn't, not when all he could say was _I love you, too, Han, you're the man I will love forever and ever and ever_. Because love wasn't platonic and romantic only; sometimes love was just love. It was just _love_ , and it didn't need to have an intention behind it, and Luke didn't know how to describe that without messing up. 

Luke was entirely too good at messing things up. 

"You're turning morose again," Leia said, bumping his shoulder with hers, and he rocked with it before settling again, pressed against her side. The two of them watched as one while three people sat under the iconic shadow of _Black One_ , a droid rolling around them and _bleepbeepbwooowoop_ ing happily at them. "I can always tell when you're turning morose." 

"Does a little black raincloud appear over my head?" 

"It's a near thing." 

Luke smiled, eyes crinkling, and watched as Rey clambered up onto one of the _Black One_ 's folded wings, leaning over to look down at Poe Dameron and Finn. Poe had gotten hold of BB-8, fixing its antenna again; Finn was lying on his back, staring up at Rey, holding up his hand as if he could grab hers if he only just reached. He watched as Rey let her hand hang over the side of the wing, as if reaching back. 

Rey was made of stars, bright and brilliant and multitudes, expanding far beyond what the eye could see; Finn was a sun, blinding, bright, the centre of gravity, holding solar systems together; Poe was the dozens of planets that both called home, because he was warm and welcoming and always ready to reach out and touch their unbelievable brightness. 

Leia was a sun; Luke was the stars; Han had been their home.

"Learn anything from Phasma?" 

"No. She's a stone wall. I'm sure if we were the type to torture, she'd survive that, too. Unless we did what Kylo Ren did - but I refuse to do that." 

"He's alive." 

Leia stiffened beside him, before she loosened her shoulders and leaned against him a little more. He leaned back, brother and sister holding one another up; all they had left, always connected, always aware. 

Luke remembered Leia's pregnancy, how the Force had _sung_. Remembered feeling the life in her belly-womb as if it were inside of himself. Remembered that Han had been a bit weird about it for the first few days, when Ben would kick and Luke would know. Complained that husbands were meant to get the sympathy pains, not brothers; but Luke and Leia had always been LukeandLeia: separated at birth and brought together by chance. 

Righteous fury tempered by endless optimism; political genius partnered with spiritual wonder. Sister and brother, children of a slave and a senator; Skywalkers and Organas, Kenobis and Solos both. 

"I never asked you to do that. Never asked you to look." 

"You didn't have to ask, Leia." 

Luke had reached out for the mottled, dying thing that was Ben. Reached out for the little boy who had pressed against him the moment he opened his eyes and stared out at the world: purple-blue-grey and covered in blood and whimpering. 

Ben came into the world, not with a bang, but with a whine; frail in his hands, flesh and metal both. The Force had swaddled him and Han had rocked him to sleep and Leia had named him; named him after her only hope, the one who brought her brother back to her - brought Luke back to Leia because Old Ben knew he was going to die and he wanted to make sure he did one thing right by them. 

Luke had watched him grow; watched him stretch and stretch and stretch, eyes wide and mind open to everything. He learned politicking on his mother's knee; learned how to steer a freighter in his father's arms. Gargled shryiiwook with Chewie because Ben had always needed a reason to shout.

He should have seen Snoke's influence. Should have seen how the Light twisted inside-out until it was bruised in Dark. He should have seen, should have _known_ \--

\--but a mother's love and a father's pride and an uncle's hopes all blinded him, and he felt history repeat itself as Ben shredded himself into pieces and called himself Kylo Ren. 

"There's still Light in him," Luke insisted, and Leia laughed, sharp and harsh and ragged edges; angry and mourning and stressed. She had been fighting for so long, ever since she could understand that she was needed to fight; she was nineteen years old when everything she knew blew up in front of her. Nineteen years old when her heart died. 

Luke shared his heart, patched hers back together with bits of himself and bits of Han; and Kylo Ren tore off a chunk and spat on it, leaving her bleeding wetly even as she ordered his capture. 

"There's no _good_ in him." 

Luke had nothing to say to that. 

He looked back down to Rey and Finn and Poe. 

Finn had joined Rey on the wing, the two of them watching as Poe and BB-8 chased each other around _Black One_ ; laughing and holding hands and leaning against one another. Rey had her head on Finn's shoulder; Finn rested his cheek on her head, and together they shouted encouragement for opposite sides. 

"Come on, BB-8, you can move faster than that!" Rey, that was Rey, much like him - like Ani - with her love of droids; her mechanical genius far exceeding his own, a life of picking starships apart just to eat.

"C'mon, Poe! You're gonna get your butt kicked by a ball!" And that was Finn, who was more Han, more Obi-Wan, more likely to trust in his own power before he trusted in anything else's. Trust issues that he worked on, because he was a person, and he was allowed.

"Finn seems to be healing well." 

"He heals quickly. I'm pretty sure it's some kind of biological change forced on him when he was young." Leia sounded proud, but sad, and angry, and Luke nudged her, and she nudged him, and together they took one another's hands - metal meeting flesh, threading together, creating a person. "I've asked him if he wanted to know about where he came from." 

Luke frowned. He knew about the data files. Knew about the proofs of purchase; saw a name and a designation, a home planet and a family - all lost but for the brand on his arm and the wiring of his mind, skin, and bones. Leia sighed, and he looked back to her. 

"He told me 'no'. Said he'd rather build himself as the person he is now, instead of trying to be someone else. I cannot imagine what that boy is going through." 

"You care about him a lot," Luke said, looking back down to see Poe on the ground, panting, while BB-8 whizzed around him and beeped a triumphant fanfare. Rey was laughing, loudly; happily, despite the burn-aches on her skin and the echoes of nightmares keeping her walking around the base at night. Finn was shaking his head and making his way carefully down from the X-wing; making his way over to the pilot and offering him a hand. "You have him shadowing you." 

"He's bright," Leia said, near-defensively. "He learns quickly. Dameron tells me it's because of more genetic improvements, but we can use that to our advantage. He's got a good memory and he can't tell a lie worth the weight of bantha shit, but he's good with people. I've never seen a group of restless, overworked soldiers pay such close attention to classes describing tactical manoeuvres." 

Luke smiled, shaking his head; squeezing her hand. "You're _fond_ of him. You never carried him and he's not your blood and bone, but he's yours." 

Leia frowned, before smiling a little; giving up and resigned and bemused. He'd never seen a person more capable of showing dozens of emotions in small gestures; the widening of eyes, the quirk of the lips, the roll of shoulders, the wrinkling of the nose. 

"I'm not using him as a replacement." 

"You love him in a different way, Leia. In a simpler way. Finn's easy to love, I think." Not like Ben. Ben had always been a challenge; Ben had always given his parents a hard time because they were famous and he was their child and he felt eyes on him all the time. Luke had hoped to take him away from that; take him with the padawans, train him, help him learn to calm and settle like a pond. 

He'd created a flood, instead; broken the dam, and watched as thousands drowned. 

"I offered him to use my name, on forms. He told me no. He wasn't going to use anyone's name - just his own. All his documents have no last name. It's not uncommon, of course, but..." Leia sighed, shaking her head. "I just want to give him something like security." 

"I offered the name Skywalker to Rey," Luke admitted, and Leia turned to him. He watched the three below; watched as Rey clambered down the X-wing and joined the two men, leaning up on tiptoe to press her lips to both their cheeks. Grinning as she said something to make them laugh and take her hands in theirs. A circle, unbreakable, infinite. 

Finn, Rey, Poe. 

Leia, Luke, Han. 

"She told me no. I don't think because she was angry I offered, or anything." Luke shrugged, closing his eyes and tipping his head back; stars bursting and scattering across the deep black of space. The Force was cold, and wrapped around his throat, and Leia's hum soothed it and drew it back; wrapped around her warmth and found something like harmony. 

"I think she doesn't want that kind of weight on her shoulders. She's already carrying so much, I don't think she could handle 'Skywalker' on top of all of that." 

"Solo would suit her best." Luke laughed, and Leia smiled, and they watched as the three walked away. "But I don't think she'd take that name, either. I don't think they want to take any name that isn't theirs. Not Organa. Not Skywalker. Not Solo. Not Dameron." 

"They're fine as just Finn and Rey," Luke said. Rey looked back, then; back and up, spotting the two, and she smiled at them, star bright and starbursts, and Luke smiled back. 

"You're fond of her, too. She's not your blood or your bone. You never cradled her in her afterbirth. But she's yours, all the same." Luke nodded, and Leia squeezed his hand, and together they stood up. Leia straightened his robes, flicking his hair back and patting his cheek; calluses catching on coarse beard hairs. He cupped her face and pressed a kiss to her forehead, and both of them sighed and felt something like balance. 

Anakin's anger and Anakin's love; Padmé's righteousness and Padmé's strength. Anakin's smile. Padmé's hope. 

Both of their hearts; broken and bleeding and a patchwork of other hearts; of each other's, of Han's. Of Chewie's and Old Ben's and Lando's; whining Ben's and miraculous Finn's and star-bright Rey's; steady Poe Dameron's, the Resistance's, the galaxy's. 

They walked out of the hangar together, back into the throng of life and death and war. 

The Force _breathed_ , and Luke knew that everything would work out.

**Author's Note:**

> Poe Dameron is a demisexual biromantic.  
> Rey is a greysexual panromantic.  
> Finn is an asexual panromantic.  
> Luke Skywalker is a bisexual aromantic. 
> 
> I guess this is mostly just closure for the series as a whole. I don't plan to write anything more for it after this. Thank you again for reading!


End file.
